Essential Principles & Guidelines for Meditation

Prologue

There are two things beginning meditators should search for as
external aids to their practice:

1. Suitable companions(puggala-sappaya):
Be judicious in choosing people to associate with. Search only for
companions who have peace of mind. This can be any group at all,
as long as the group as a whole is aiming for mental peace.

2. A suitable location(senasana-sappaya):
Choose a quiet place with an agreeable atmosphere, far from human
society. Places of this sort, providing physical seclusion, are
conducive to the practice of meditation. Examples listed in the
Canon include caverns and caves, the shade of an over-hanging cliff-face,
the forest wilderness, and empty houses or buildings where not too
many people will come passing by. Places like this are an excellent
aid and support for a beginning meditator.

When you go to stay in such a place, don't let your thoughts
dwell on topics that will act as enemies to your peace of mind.
For example, don't preoccupy yourself with magic spells or the black
arts. Instead, call to mind and put into practice those principles
and qualities that will be to your benefit. For example:

Appicchata: Be a person of few wants
with regard to the necessities of life.

Santutthi: Be content with the possessions
you already have.

Viveka: Aim solely for peace, quiet and
seclusion.

Asansagga: Don't entangle yourself with
human companionship.

Viriyarambha: Be singleminded and persistent
at making the mind still and at peace.

Silanussati: Reflect on your own conduct
to see if you've overstepped any of your precepts, and — if you
have — immediately purify your behavior through your own intention.

Samadhi-katha: Focus on calling to mind
the meditation theme on which your mind can become firmly established.

Pañña-katha: Focus exclusively on those
topics that will give rise to discernment and clear insight.

Vimutti: Make the mind well-disposed
toward the search for release from all defilements.

Vimutti-ñana-dassana: Focus on contemplating
how to come to the realizations that will enable you to gain release
from the fermentation of all defilements.

These principles are guidelines for meditators of every sort
and will direct the mind solely to the path leading beyond all suffering
and stress.

What follows is a short-hand list of s, selected
to help prevent meditators from getting tied up in the course of
their practice. These principles, though, should be viewed merely
as incidental to the Dhamma. The reality of the Dhamma has to be
brought into being within ourselves through our own energies: This
is called practicing the Dhamma. If we go no further than the lists,
we'll end up with only concepts of the Dhamma. Our ultimate aim
should be to make the mind still until we reach the natural reality
that exists on its own within us, that knows on its own and lets
go on its own. This is the practice of the Dhamma that will lead
us to the realization of the Dhamma — the true taste and nourishment
of the Dhamma — so that we will no longer be caught up on the ropes.

In other words, conceptualized Dhamma is like a rope bridge for
crossing over a river. If we take the bridge down and then carry
it with us, it will serve no purpose other than to weigh us down
and get us all tied up. So no matter how much conceptualized Dhamma
you may have memorized, when you come to the point where you're
practicing for real you have to take responsibility for yourself.
Whether you are to win or lose, let go or cling, will depend on
how much quality you've built into your own mind. This is why we
are taught not to cling to the scriptures and texts, to meanings
and concepts. Only when we train ourselves to get beyond all this
will we be heading for purity.

Attahi attano natho:

Nothing can help us unless we can rely on ourselves. Only when
we realize this will we be on the right track. The Buddha attained
all of the truths he taught before he put them into words. It wasn't
the case that he came up with the words first and then put them
into practice later. He was like the scientists who experiment and
get results before writing textbooks. But people who simply read
the textbooks know everything — for example, they may know every
part in an airplane — but they can't produce one out of their own
knowledge. To be a consumer and to be a producer are two different
things. If we cling merely to the concepts of the Dhamma, simply
memorizing them, we're no more than consumers. Only if we make ourselves
into producers, so that others can consume, will we be acting properly.

To be successful producers, we have to accept responsibility
for ourselves. If there's any area where we don't succeed, we should
make use of our own ingenuity until we do. If we rely merely on
the ingenuity of others, then we can't depend on ourselves. And
if we can't depend on ourselves, why should we let other people
think that they can depend on us?

This is why I have compiled this list of principles merely as
a brief beginning guide for meditators.

The Thirteen Ascetic Observances

1. Pansukulikanga: the practice of wearing robes made
from thrown-away cloth.

2. Tecivarikanga: the practice of using only one set of
three robes.

3. Pindapatikanga: the practice of going for alms.

4. Sapadacarikanga: the practice of not by-passing any
donors on one's alms path.

5. Ekasanikanga: the practice of eating no more than one
meal a day.

6. Pattapindikanga: the practice of eating one's food
only from one's bowl.

7. Khalupacchabhattikanga: the practice of not accepting
any food presented after one has eaten one's fill.

8. Araññikanga: the practice of living in the wilderness.

9. Rukkhamulikanga: the practice of living under the shade
of a tree.

10. Abbhokasikanga: the practice of living out under the
open sky.

11. Sosanikanga: the practice of living in a cemetery.

12. Yathasanthatikanga: the practice of living in whatever
place is assigned to one.

Seven Important Sets of Principles (The Wings to Awakening)

2. The four right exertions (sammappadhana): making the
effort to prevent evil from arising, to abandon whatever evil has
arisen, to give rise to the good that hasn't yet arisen, and to
maintain the good that has.

5. Vikkhayittaka: a corpse that various animals,
such as dogs, are gnawing, or that vultures are picking at, or that
crows are fighting over, pulling it apart in different directions.

6. Vikkhittaka: corpses scattered about, i.e.,
unclaimed bodies that have been thrown together in a pile — face
up, face down, old bones and new scattered all over the place.

7. Hatavikkhittaka: the corpse of a person
violently murdered, slashed and stabbed with various weapons, covered
with wounds — short, long, shallow, deep — some parts hacked so
that they're almost detached.

8. Lohitaka: a corpse covered with blood,
like the hands of a butcher, all red and raw-smelling.

9. Puluvaka: a corpse infested with worms:
long worms, short worms, black, green, and yellow worms, squeezed
into the ears, eyes, and mouth; squirming and squiggling about,
filling the various parts of the body like a net full of fish that
has fallen open.

10. Atthika: a skeleton, some of the joints
already separated, others not yet, the bones — whitish, yellowish,
discolored — scattered near and far all over the place.

Four sublime abidings:

2. Karuna: compassion, sympathy, pity, aspiring
to find a way to be truly helpful.

3. Mudita: appreciation for the goodness of
other people and for our own when we are able to help them.

4. Upekkha: When our efforts to be of help
don't succeed, we should make the mind neutral — neither pleased
nor upset by whatever it focuses on — so that it enters the emptiness
of jhana, centered and tranquil to the point where it can disregard
acts of thinking and evaluating as well as feelings of rapture and
ease, leaving only oneness and equanimity with regard to all objects
and preoccupations.

Four formless absorptions:

1. Akasanancayatana: being absorbed in a sense
of boundless emptiness and space as one's preoccupation.

2. Viññanancayatana: being absorbed in boundless
consciousness as one's preoccupation, with no form or figure acting
as the sign or focal point of one's concentration.

3. Akiñcaññayatana: focusing exclusively on
a fainter or more subtle sense of cognizance that has no limit and
in which nothing appears or disappears, to the point where one almost
understands it to be nibbana.

4. Nevasañña-nasaññayatana: being absorbed
in a feeling that occurs in the mind, that isn't awareness exactly,
but neither is it non-awareness; i.e., there is awareness, but with
no thinking, no focusing of awareness on what it knows.

These four formless absorptions are merely resting places for
the mind, because they are states that the mind enters, stays in,
and leaves. They are by nature unstable and inconstant, so we shouldn't
rest content simply at this level. We have to go back and forth
through the various levels many times so as to realize that they're
only stages of enforced tranquillity.

One resolution into elements: i.e., regarding each part
of the body simply in terms of physical properties or elements.

One perception of the filthiness of food: i.e., viewing
food as something repugnant and unclean — with regard to where it
comes from, how it's prepared, how it's mixed together when it's
chewed, and where it stays in the stomach and intestines.

* * *

With one exception, all of the meditation themes mentioned here
are simply gocara dhamma — foraging places for the mind.
They're not places for the mind to stay. If we try to go live in
the things we see when we're out foraging, we'll end up in trouble.
Thus, there is one theme that's termed "vihara dhamma" or
"anagocara": Once you've developed it, you can use it as
a place to stay. When you practice meditation, you don't have to
go foraging in other themes; you can stay in the single theme that's
the apex of all meditation themes: anapanassati, keeping
the breath in mind. This theme, unlike the others, has none of the
features or various deceptions that can upset or disturb the heart.
As for the others:

— Some of the recollections, when you've practiced them for a
long time, can give rise to startling or unsettling visions.

— The ten foul objects can give rise after a while to visions
and sometimes to sense of alienation and discontent that turns into
restlessness and distress, your mind being unable to fashion anything
on which it can come to rest, to the point where you can't eat or
drink.

— The ten kasina, after you've stared at them a long while, can
give rise to visions that tend to pull you out of your sense of
the body, as you become enthralled by their color and features,
to the point where you may become completely carried away.

— As for the resolution into elements, when you become more and
more engrossed in contemplating the elements, everything in the
world becomes nothing more than elements, which are everywhere the
same. You come to believe that you no longer have to make distinctions:
You're nothing more than elements, members of the opposite sex are
nothing more than elements, food is nothing more than elements,
and so you can end up overstepping the bounds of morality and the
monastic discipline.

— As for the perception of the filthiness of food, as you become
more and more caught up in it, everything becomes repulsive. You
can't eat or sleep, your mind becomes restless and disturbed, and
you inflict suffering on yourself.

— As for the four sublime abodes, if you don't have jhana as
a dwelling for the mind, feelings of good will, compassion, and
appreciation can all cause you to suffer. Only if you have jhana
can these qualities truly become sublime abodes, that is, restful
places for the heart to stay (vihara dhamma).

Thus only one of these themes — anapanassati, keeping the breath
in mind — is truly safe. This is the supreme meditation theme. You
don't have to send your awareness out to fix it on any outside objects
at all. Even if you may go foraging through such objects, don't
go living in them, because after a while they can waver and shift,
just as when we cross the sea in a boat: When we first get into
the boat we may feel all right, but as soon as the boat heads out
into the open bay and we're buffeted by wind and waves, we can start
feeling seasick. To practice keeping the breath in mind, though,
is like sitting in an open shelter at dockside: We won't feel queasy
or sick; we can see boats as they pass by on the water, and people
as they pass by on land. Thus, keeping the breath in mind is classed:

— as an exercise agreeable to people of any and every temperament;

— as "anagocara," an exercise in which you focus exclusively
on the breath while you sit in meditation, without having to compound
things by sending your awareness out to grab this or get hold of
that;

— and as "dhamma-thiti," i.e., all you have to do is keep
your mind established firm and in place.

The beginning stage is to think buddho — "bud-"
with the in-breath, and "dho" with the out. Fixing your attention
on just this much is enough to start seeing results. There's only
one aim, and that's:

that you really do it.

If there is anything you're unsure of, or if you encounter any
problems, then consult the following pages.

Introduction

This handbook on keeping the breath in mind has had a number
of readers who have put it into practice and seen results appearing
within themselves in accordance with the strength of their practice.
Many people have come to me to discuss the results they've gained
from practicing the principles in this book, but now it's out of
print. For this reason I've decided to enlarge it and have it printed
again as an aid for those who are interested in the practice.

Now, if you're not acquainted with this topic, have never attempted
it, or aren't yet skilled — if you don't know the techniques of
the practice — it's bound to be hard to understand, because the
currents of the mind, when they're written down as a book, simply
won't be a book. The issues involved in dealing with the mind are
more than many. If your knowledge of them isn't truly comprehensive,
you may misunderstand what you come to see and know, and this in
turn can be destructive in many ways. (1) You may lose whatever
respect you had for the practice, deciding that there's no truth
to it. (2) You may gain only a partial grasp of things, leading
you to decide that other people can't practice or are practicing
wrongly, and in the end you're left with no way to practice yourself.
So you decide to "let go" simply through conjecture and speculation.
But the truth is that this simply won't work. True and complete
letting go can come only from the principles well-taught by the
Buddha: virtue, concentration, and discernment, which are a synopsis
of the eightfold path he taught in his first sermon.

So in our practice we should consider how virtue, concentration,
discernment, and release can be brought into being. Virtue forms
the basis for concentration; concentration, the basis for discernment
(liberating insight or cognitive skill); and discernment, the basis
for release from ignorance, craving, and attachment. Thus in this
book, which is a guide to developing Right Concentration, I would
like to recommend to other meditators a method that, in my experience,
has proven safe and productive, so that they can test it for themselves
by putting it into practice until they start seeing results.

The main concern of this book is with the way to mental peace.
Now, the word "peace" has many levels: A mind infused with virtue
has one level of peace and happiness; a mind stilled through concentration
has another level of peace and happiness; a mind at peace through
the power of discernment has still another level of happiness; and
the peace of a mind that is released is yet another level, with
a happiness completely apart from the rest.

In these matters, though, meditators tend to prefer the results
to the causes. They aren't as interested in abandoning their own
defilements through the principles of the practice as they are in
standing out among society at large. They appropriate the ideas
and observations of other people as being their own, but by and
large their wisdom is composed of bahira pañña — remembered
"outsights," not true insight.

So when you want the reality of the principles taught by the
Buddha, you should first lift your mind to this principle — Right
Concentration — because it's an excellent gathering of the energies
of your mind. All energy in the world comes from stopping and resting.
Motion is something that destroys itself — as when our thinking
goes all out of bounds. Take walking for instance: When we walk,
energy comes from the foot at rest. Or when we speak, energy comes
from stopping between phrases. If we were to talk without stopping,
without resting between phrases, not only would it waste energy,
but the language we'd speak wouldn't even be human.
So it is with practicing the
Dhamma: Release comes from concentration and discernment acting
together. Release through the power of the mind (ceto-vimutti)
requires more concentration and less discernment; release through
discernment (pañña-vimutti), more discernment and less concentration
— but there is no way that release can be attained without the stillness
of concentration.

Thus, resting the mind provides the strength needed to support
all the qualities developed in the practice, which is why it's such
an essential part of Right Concentration. It forms a well-spring
and a storage place for all knowledge, whether of the world or of
the Dhamma. If you aren't acquainted with this basic principle,
skilled awareness won't arise. And if you don't have skilled awareness,
how will you be able to let go? You'll have to go groping around
in unskilled awareness. As long as the mind is in the grips of unskilled
awareness, it's bound to be deluded by its fashionings.

Unskilled awareness is a brine in which the mind lies soaking;
a mind soaked in its juices is like wet, sappy wood that, when burned,
gives off smoke as its signal, but no flame. As the smoke rises
into the air, you imagine it to be something high and exalted. It's
high, all right, but only like smoke or overcast clouds. If there's
a lot of it, it can obscure your vision and that of others, so that
you can't see the light of the sun and moon. This is why such people
are said to be "groping." Those who train their own hearts, though,
will give rise to skilled awareness. When skilled awareness penetrates
the heart, you'll come to realize the harmful potency of mental
fashionings. The arising of skilled awareness in the heart is like
the burning of dry, sapless wood that gives off flame and light.
Even though there may be some smoke, you don't pay it any mind,
because the firelight is more outstanding.

The flame of skilled awareness gives rise to five sorts of results:

1. Rust (the defilements) won't take hold of the heart.

2. The heart becomes purified.

3. The heart becomes radiant in and of itself (pabhassaram
cittam).

4. The heart develops majesty (tejas).

5. The three skills, the eight skills, and the four forms of
acumen will arise.

All of these things arise through the power of the mind. The
nature of the mind is that it already has a certain amount of instinctive
intuition — the times when it knows on its own, as when you happen
to think of a particular person, and then he or she actually shows
up. All good qualities, from the mundane to the transcendent, are
always present in each of us. These qualities — the Dhamma — aren't
the exclusive possession of any particular group or person. We all
have the right to develop them and put them into practice.

For these qualities to yield results, we have to develop them
in conjunction with the following four principles:

1. Chanda: feeling an affinity for the practice.

2. Viriya: being persistent in the practice.

3. Citta: being intent on the practice.

4. Vimansa: being circumspect in what we do, i.e., circumspect
before we do it, circumspect (mindful and aware) while we're doing
it, and circumspect with regard to the results that arise from what
we've done.

These four principles form the foundation for success in all
areas, whether in matters of the world or of the Dhamma. Once they're
actualized within us and focused together on a single goal, we're
bound to succeed in line with our aspirations. The results they
yield, briefly put, are of two sorts:

1. Iddhiriddhi: certain mundane powers that accrue to
meditators.

2. Puññariddhi: power in terms of the Dhamma that will
accrue to meditators, providing means for settling issues that relate
to the world and the heart, or for liberating the mind from all
mundane influences. This is termed:

Thus, I would like to invite all Buddhists — all who hope for
peace and well-being — to reflect on the principles of practice
dealing with Right Concentration presented here as a guide for those
who are interested. If you have any questions dealing with this
book, or any problems arising from the practice of training the
mind, I will be glad to give whatever advice I can.

May you prosper and be well.

Whoever feels that this book is of use and would like to print
it again for free distribution, may go ahead and do so without having
to ask permission. Some parts may not be correct in terms of the
Pali, so wherever there may be any mistakes, I ask your forgiveness.

I revere the relics. I revere them everywhere. I always revere
the Triple Gem.

B. Paying homage to the Triple Gem:

Buddha-puja mahatejavanto: I ask to pay homage to the
Buddha, whose majesty is greater than the powers of all beings human
and divine. Thus, this homage to the Buddha is a means of developing
great majesty.

Buddham jivitam yava nibbanam saranam gacchami: I take
refuge in the Buddha from now until attaining nibbana.

Dhamma-puja mahappanno: I ask to pay homage to the Dhamma,
the teachings of the Buddha, which are a well-spring of discernment
for beings human and divine. Thus, this worship of the Dhamma is
a means of developing great discernment.

Dhammam jivitam yava nibbanam saranam gacchami: I take
refuge in the Dhamma from now until attaining nibbana.

Sangha-puja mahabhogavaho: I ask to pay homage to those
followers of the Buddha who have practiced well in thought, word,
and deed; and who possess all wealth, beginning with Noble Wealth.
Thus, this homage to the Sangha is a means of developing great wealth.

Sangham jivitam yava nibbanam saranam gacchami: I take
refuge in the Sangha from now until attaining nibbana.

N'atthi me saranam aññam, Buddho dhammo sangho me saranam
varam: Etena saccavajjena hotu me jayamangalam: I have no other
refuge: The Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha are my highest refuge. By
means of this vow, may the blessing of victory be mine.

Yankiñci ratanam loke vijjati vividham puthu, Ratanam buddha-dhamma-sangha-samam
natthi, Tasma sotthi bhavantu me: Of the many and varied treasures
found in the world, none equal the Triple Gem. Therefore, may well-being
be mine.

(If you repeat the translations of these passages, bow down once
at this point.)

Sabbe satta — May all living beingsAvera hontu
— Be free from animosity,Abyapajjha hontu — Free from
oppression,Anigha hontu — Free from trouble,Sukhi
attanam pariharantu — May they look after themselves with ease.

When you have finished spreading thoughts of good will to all
six directions, cleanse your heart of thoughts of animosity and
apprehension. Make your heart completely clear and at ease. Good
will acts as a support for purity of virtue and so is an appropriate
way of preparing the heart for the practice of tranquillity and
insight meditation.

III. The Foul: Tranquillity Meditation

I.e., remove all befouling mental states from the mind. The things
that befoul and darken the mind are the five Hindrances:

When any of these unskillful states occupy the heart, it's not
flourishing, blooming, or bright. For the heart to bloom, it has
to be free from all five of the Hindrances; and for it to be free
in this way, we have to develop concentration or absorption (jhana),
which is composed of directed thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure,
and singleness of preoccupation (see below). The heart will then
be clear, bright, and resplendent. In Pali, this is called "sobhana-citta."
Thus, in this section we will discuss how to develop concentration
as a means of eliminating the Hindrances as follows:

A. "Among the forty themes, breath is supreme."

Sit in a half-lotus position, your right leg on top of your left;
your hands palm-up in your lap, your right hand on top of your left.
Keep your body comfortably erect and your mind on what you're doing.
Don't let your thoughts go spinning forward or back. Be intent on
keeping track of the present: the present of the body, or the in-and-out
breath; and the present of the mind, or mindfulness and all-round
alertness. The present of the body and the present of the mind should
be brought together at a single point. In other words, make the
object of the mind single and one. Focus your attention on the breath,
keeping watch over it until you're clearly aware that, "This is
the in-breath," and "This is the out." Once you can see clearly
in this way, call to mind the virtues of the Buddha, Dhamma, and
Sangha, gathering them into a single word, "Buddho." Then divide
"Buddho" into two syllables, thinking "bud-" with the in-breath,
and "dho" with the out, at the same time counting your breaths:
"Bud-" in, "dho" out, one; "bud-" in, "dho" out, two; "bud-" in
"dho" out, three, and so on up to ten. Then start counting again
from one to nine; then one to eight, one to seven... six... five...
four... three... two... one... zero. In other words:

Keep three points — the breath, your mindfulness, and your awareness
— together in a single stream. If when you've finished counting
you find that your mind still won't stay with the breath, start
by counting again, from one to ten and so on to zero. Keep this
up until you feel that your mind has settled down, and then stay
with zero. In other words, you no longer have to count, you no longer
have to think "Buddho." Simply keep careful watch over your breath
and your awareness. Keep your awareness focused on a single point,
being mindful and watchful. Don't send it in and out after the breath.
When the breath comes in, you know. When it goes out, you know,
but don't make your awareness go in or out. Keep it neutral and
still. Keep watch only on the present. When you can do this, the
five Hindrances won't be able to find entry into the mind. This
is called "parikamma bhavana," repetition meditation.

At this point, the mind becomes light and can put aside its heavy
burdens. When the mind is light, so is the body. In Pali this is
called, "kaya-lahuta, citta-lahuta." The mind is peaceful
and solitary — free from agitation and unrest — clear and calm with
the refined sense of the breath. When the mind reaches this state,
it's in the sphere of directed thought (vitakka), which is
the first factor of jhana.

Now survey and examine the characteristics of the breath. Try
adjusting the breath in four different ways: Breathe in long and
out long, and see whether your mind is at ease with that sort of
breath. Then breathe in short and out short to see whether you feel
comfortable and at ease that way. Then see whether you feel at ease
breathing in long and out short, or in short and out long. Continue
breathing in whichever of these four ways feels most comfortable
and then let that comfortable breath spread throughout the different
parts of the body. At the same time, expand your sense of mindful
awareness along with the breath.

When the breath runs throughout the body, and the sensations
of breath in the various parts of the body are coordinated, they
can be put to use, for example, to relieve feelings of pain. Your
sense of mindfulness at this point is broad; your alertness, complete
and mature. When mindfulness is spread throughout the body, this
is called kayagatasati — mindfulness immersed in the body.
Your frame of reference is large and expansive, and so is called
"mahasatipatthana." Your alertness is present throughout,
aware both of the causes — i.e., what you're doing — and of the
results coming from what you've done. All of these characteristics
are aspects of evaluation (vicara), the second factor of
jhana.

Now that the body and mind have received nourishment — in other
words, now that the breath has provided for the body, and mindfulness
has provided for the mind — both body and mind are bound to reap
results, i.e., rapture. The body is full and refreshed, free from
restlessness. The mind is full and refreshed, free from anxiety
and distraction, broad and blooming. This is called rapture (piti),
which is the third factor of jhana.

Once fullness arises in this way, body and mind settle down and
are still. In Pali this is termed "kaya-passaddhi, citta-passaddhi."
This feeling of stillness leads to a sense of relaxation and ease
for both body and mind, termed pleasure (sukha).

These are the beginning steps in dealing with the mind. Once
you are able to follow them, you should make a point of practicing
them repeatedly, back and forth, until you're skilled at entering
concentration, staying in place, and withdrawing. Even just this
much can form a path along which the mind can then progress, for
it has to some extent already reached the level of upacara bhavana,
threshold concentration.

B. Focal points for the mind

These include: (1) the tip of the nose; (2) the middle of the
head; (3) the palate; (4) the base of the throat; (5) the tip of
the breastbone; (6) the "center," two inches above the navel. In
centering the breath at any of these points, people who tend to
have headaches shouldn't focus on any point above the base of the
throat.

Coordinate the various aspects of breath in the body, such as
the up-flowing breath, the down-flowing breath, the breath flowing
in the stomach, the breath flowing in the intestines, the breath
flowing along every part of the body, hot breath, cool breath, warm
breath: Mesh these various sorts of breath so that they're balanced,
even, and just right, so as to give rise to a sense of ease and
comfort throughout the body. The purpose of examining and coordinating
the breath is to expand your sense of mindfulness and awareness
so that they are sensitive throughout the entire body. This will
then benefit both body and mind. The enlarged sense of the body
is termed mahabhuta-rupa; expanded awareness is termed
mahaggatam cittam. This sense of awareness will then go on to
reap the benefits of its beauty that will arise in various ways,
leading it to the level of appana bhavana, fixed penetration.

* * *

The characteristics of the in-and-out breath, as they interact
with the properties of the body, can cause the properties of water
and earth to be affected as follows:

If we know clearly which physical properties are aggravating
greed, anger, or delusion, we can destroy the corresponding properties
and these states of mind will weaken on their own.

"Remove the fuel, and the fire won't blaze."

To adjust these properties skillfully gives rise to discernment,
which lies at the essence of being skillful. Adjust the property
of warmth so that the blood is clear and light red, and your discernment
will be quick, your nerves healthy, your thinking perceptive, subtle,
and deep. In other words, to make heavier use of the nerves in the
physical heart is the way of the Dhamma. As for the nerves of the
brain, to use them a great deal leads to restlessness, distraction,
and heavy defilements.

These are just a few of the issues related to the breath. There
are many, many more, that people of discernment should discover
on their own. Ñana-dhatu-vijja: knowledge of the subtleties
of all 18 elements (dhatu), the 22 pre-eminent qualities
(indriya), the six sense media (ayatana); acute insight
into the qualities of the mind; expertise in concentration. Concentration
gives rise to liberating insight, acquaintance with the process
of fashioning;

C. Images

Images of either sort can appear at certain mental moments or
with certain people. When the mind becomes still, uggaha nimittas
can appear in either of two ways:

— from mental notes made in the past;— on their own, without
our ever having thought of the matter.

Uggaha nimittas of both sorts can be either beneficial or harmful,
true or false, so we shouldn't place complete trust in them. If
we're thoroughly mindful and alert, they can be beneficial. But
if our powers of reference are weak or if we lack strength of mind,
we're likely to follow the drift of whatever images appear, sometimes
losing our bearings to the point where we latch on to the images
as being real.

Uggaha nimittas are of two sorts:

a. Sensation-images: e.g., seeing images of our own body, of
other people, of animals, or of corpses; images of black, red, blue
or white. Sometimes these images are true, sometimes not. Sometimes
images arise by way of the ear — for example, we may hear the voice
of a person talking. Sometimes they arise by way of the nose — we
may smell fragrant scents or foul, like those of a corpse. Sometimes
images are sensed by the body — the body may feel small or large,
tall or short. All of these sensations are classed as uggaha
nimittas. If the mind is strong and resilient, they can act
as a means for the arising of liberating insight. If our powers
of reference are weak, though, they can turn into corruptions of
insight (vipassanupakkilesa), in which we fall for the objects
we experience, believing them to be true. Even when they're true,
things that are false can mingle in with them — like a man sitting
under the open sky: When the sun shines, he's bound to have a shadow.
The man really exists, and the shadow is connected with him, but
the shadow isn't really the man. Thus, we're taught to let go of
what's true and real; things that are untrue will then fall from
our grasp as well.

b. Thought-images: When the breath is subtle and the mind is
still and unoccupied, things can occur to it. Sometimes we may think
of a question and then immediately know the answer. Sometimes we
don't even have to think: The knowledge pops into the mind on its
own. Things of this sort are also classed as uggaha nimittas.
Sometimes they may be true, sometimes false, sometimes mixed. You
can't trust them to be absolutely true. Sometimes they're true,
and that truth is what leads us to fall for them. For example, they
may be true about three things and false about seven. Once we've
placed our confidence in them, even the false things will appear
true to us. This is one way of giving rise to the corruptions of
insight.

So when sensation-images or thought-images arise in one way or
another, you should then practice adjusting and analyzing them
(patibhaga nimitta). In other words, when a visual image
arises, if it's large, make it small, far, near, large, small, appear,
and disappear. Analyze it into its various parts and then let it
go. Don't let these images influence the mind. Instead, have the
mind influence the images, as you will. If you aren't able to do
this, then don't get involved with them. Disregard them and return
to your original practice with the breath.

If a thought-image arises by way of the mind, stop, take your
bearings, and consider exactly how much truth there is to the knowledge
it gives. Even if it's true, you shouldn't latch onto what you know
or see. If you latch onto your knowledge, it'll become a corruption
of insight. If you latch on to your views, they'll become a form
of attachment and conceit, in which you assume yourself to be this
or that. Thus, you should let go of these things, in line with their
true nature. If you aren't wise to them, they can skew your practice
so that you miss out on the highest good.

D. The Ten Corruptions of Insight

1. Obhasa: a bright light that enables you to see places
both far and near.

2. Ñana: knowledge enabling you to know in an uncanny
way things you never before knew, such as pubbenivasanussati-ñana,
the ability to remember previous lifetimes. Even knowledge of this
sort, though, can mislead you. If you learn good things about your
past, you may get pleased. If you learn bad or undesirable things
about your past, you may get displeased. Cutupapata-ñana:
Sometimes you may learn how people and other living beings die and
are reborn — knowing, for instance, where they are reborn when they
have died from this world — which can cause you to become engrossed
in the various things you come to know and see. As you become more
and more engrossed, false knowledge can step in, and yet you still
assume it to be true.

3. Piti: a sense of physical and mental fullness and satisfaction,
full to the point of infatuation — physically satisfied to the point
where you don't feel hunger or thirst, heat or cold; mentally satisfied
to the point where you become engrossed and oblivious, lazy and
lethargic, perhaps deciding that you've already achieved the goal.
What's actually happened is that you've swallowed your mood down
whole.

4. Passaddhi: The body is at peace and the mind serene,
to the point where you don't want to encounter anything in the world.
You see the world as being unpeaceful and you don't want to have
anything to do with it. Actually, if the mind is really at peace,
everything in the world will also be at peace. People who are addicted
to a sense of peace won't want to do any physical work or even think
about anything, because they're stuck on that sense of peace as
a constant preoccupation.

5. Sukha: Once there's peace, there's a sense of physical
and mental pleasure and ease; and once there's a great deal of pleasure,
you come to hate pain, seeing pleasure as something good and pain
as something bad. Your view of things falls into two parts. (Actually,
pleasure doesn't come from anywhere else but pain.) Pain is the
same thing as pleasure: When pleasure arises, pain is its shadow;
when pain arise, pleasure is its shadow. As long as you don't understand
this, you give rise to a kind of defilement — again, you swallow
your mood down whole. When a deep and arresting sense of relaxation,
stillness, ease, or freedom from disturbance arises, you get engrossed
in that feeling. What has happened is that you're simply stuck on
a pleasing mental state.

6. Adhimokkha: being disposed to believing that your knowledge
and the things you know are true. Once "true" takes a stance, "false"
is bound to enter the picture. True and false go together, i.e.,
they're one and the same thing. For example, suppose we ask, "Is
Nai Daeng at home?" and someone answers, "No, he isn't." If Nai
Daeng really exists and he's really at home, then when that person
says, "He's not at home," he's lying. But if Nai Daeng doesn't exist,
that person can't lie. Thus, true and false are one and the same...

8. Upatthana: being obsessed with a particular item you've
come to know or see, refusing to let it go.

9. Upekkha: indifference, not wanting to meet with anything,
be aware of anything, think about anything, or figure anything out;
assuming that you've let go completely. Actually, though, this is
a misunderstanding of that very mental moment.

10. Nikanti: being content with your various preoccupations,
simply attached to the things you experience or see.

All of these things, if we aren't wise to them, can corrupt the
heart. So, as meditators, we should attend to them and reflect on
them until we understand them thoroughly. Only then will we be able
to give rise to liberating insight, clear knowledge of the four
truths:

1. Physical and mental stress, i.e., the things that burden the
body or mind. Physical and mental pleasure and ease, though, are
also classed as stress because they are subject to change.

2. The factors that enable these forms of stress to arise are
three:

a. Kama-tanha: craving for attractive and appealing sights,
sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas; fastening
onto these things, grabbing hold of them as belonging to the self.
This is one factor that enables stress to arise. (The mind flashes
out.)

b. Bhava-tanha: desire for things to be this way or that
at times when they can't be the way we want them; wanting things
to be a certain way outside of the proper time or occasion. This
is called "being hungry" — like a person who hungers for food but
has no food to eat and so acts in a way that shows, "I'm a person
who wants to eat." Bhava-tanha is another factor that enables stress
to arise. (The mind strays.)

c. Vibhava-tanha: not wanting things to be this way or
that, e.g., having been born, not wanting to die; not wanting to
be deprived of the worldly things we've acquired: for example, having
status and wealth and yet not wanting our status and wealth to leave
us. The truth of the matter is that there's no way it can be avoided.
As soon as the change comes, we thus feel stress and pain. (The
mind flinches.)

Punappunam pilitattasansaranta bhavabhave:

"Repeated oppression,wandering on from one state of becoming
to another."

Different states of becoming arise first in the mind, then giving
rise to birth. Thus, people of discernment let go of these things,
causing:

3. Nirodha — cessation or disbanding — to appear in the
heart. In other words, the mind discovers the limits of craving
and lets it go through the practice of insight meditation, letting
go of all fashionings, both good and bad. To be able to let go in
this way, we have to develop:

4. Magga — the Path — so as to make it powerful. In other
words, we have to give rise to pure discernment within our own minds
so that we can know the truth. Stress is a truth; its cause is a
truth; its cessation and the Path are truths: To know in this way
is liberating insight. And then when we let all four truths fall
away from us so that we gain release from "true," that's when we'll
reach deathlessness (amata dhamma). Truths have their drawbacks
in that untrue things are mixed in with them. Wherever real money
exists, there's bound to be counterfeit. Wherever there are rich
people, there are bound to be thieves waiting to rob them. This
is why release has to let go of truths before it can reach nibbana.

Meditators, then, should acquaint themselves with the enemies
of concentration, so as to keep their distance from all five of
the Hindrances, the two sorts of uggaha nimittas, and the
ten corruptions of insight. The mind will then be able to gain release
from all things defiling, dirty, and damp. What this means is that
the mind doesn't hold onto anything at all. It lets go of supposings,
meanings, practice, and attainment. Above cause and beyond effect:
That's the aim of the Buddha's teachings.

Those who want to get rid of kama-tanha — desire and attraction
for the six types of sensory objects — have to develop virtue that's
pure all the way to the heart: This is termed heightened virtue
(adhisila). Those who are to get rid of bhava-tanha
— thoughts that stray out, choosing objects to dwell on — first
have to develop Right Concentration, pure and circumspect: This
is termed heightened mind (adhicitta). Those who are to get
rid of vibhava-tanha — attachment to knowledge and viewpoints,
attainments and states of becoming, theories and conceits — will
first have to develop clear-seeing discernment, cognitive skill
that's pure and fully developed: This is heightened discernment
(adhipañña). Thus, the threefold training — virtue, concentration,
and discernment — is a group of truths that can let go of the causes
of stress. Other than this, there's no way to release.

I.e., keep death in mind. This is where the mind advances to
the development of liberating insight, taking death as its theme.
"Death" here refers to the death occurring in the present — physical
sensations arising and passing away, mental acts arising and passing
away, all in a moment of awareness. Only when you're aware on this
level can you be classed as being mindful of death.

Now that we've brought up the topic of death, we have to reflect
on birth, seeing how many ways sensations are born and how many
ways mental acts are born. This is something a person with a quiet
mind can know.

A. Sensations have up to five levels of refinement:

1. Hina-rupa: coarse sensations, sensations of discomfort,
aches and pains. When these arise, focus on what causes them until
they disappear.

2. Panita-rupa: exquisite sensations that make the body
feel pleasurable, light, and refined. Focus on what causes them
until they disappear...

3. Sukhumala-rupa: delicate sensations, tender, yielding,
and agile. When they arise, focus on what causes them until they
disappear.

4. Olarika-rupa: physical sensations that give a sense
of grandeur, exuberance, brightness, and exultation: "Mukhavanno
vipassidati." When they arise, focus on finding out what causes
them until they disappear...

All four of these sensations arise and disband by their very
nature; and it's possible to find out where they first appear.

5. "Mano-bhava": imagined circumstances that appear through
the power of the mind. When they arise, focus on keeping track of
them until they disappear. Once you're able to know in this way,
you enter the sphere of true mindfulness of death.

An explanation of this sort of sensation: When the mind is quiet
and steadily concentrated, it has the power to create images in
the imagination (inner sensations, or sensations within sensations).
Whatever images it thinks of will then appear to it; and once they
appear, the mind tends to enter into them and take up residence.
(It can go great distances.) If the mind fastens onto these sensations,
it is said to take birth — simply because it has no sense of death.

These sensations can appear in any of five ways:

a. arising from the posture of the body, disappearing when the
posture changes;

b. arising from thoughts imbued with greed, hatred, or delusion
— arising, taking a stance, and then disbanding;

c. arising with an in-breath and disbanding with the following
out-breath;

d. arising from the cleansing of the blood in the lungs — appearing
and disbanding in a single instant;

e. arising from the heart's pumping blood into the various parts
of the body, the pressure of the blood causing sensations to arise
that correspond to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations.
Sensations of this sort are arising and disbanding every moment.

Another class of sensation is termed "gocara-rupa" — sensations
that circle around the physical body. There are five sorts — light,
sound, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations — each having five
levels. For instance, common light travels slowly; in the flash
of an eye it runs for a league and then dies away. The second level,
subtle light, goes further; and the third level goes further still.
The fourth and fifth levels can travel the entire universe. The
same holds true for sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations.
The relationships between all the potentials in the universe are
interacting at every moment, differing only as to whether they're
fast or slow. This is the inequality that has been termed "anicca-lakkhana"
— inherent inconstancy. Whoever is ignorant is bound to think that
all this is impossible, but actually this is the way things already
are by their nature. We'll come to know this through vijja
— cognitive skill — not through ordinary labels and concepts. This
is called true knowing, which meditators who develop the inner eye
will realize for themselves: knowing the arising of these sensations,
their persisting and their disbanding, in terms of their primary
qualities and basic regularity.

Knowing things for what they really are.Release, purity,
dispassion, disbanding;

Nibbanam paramam sukham:Nibbana is the ultimate ease.

B. As for mental acts that arise and die, their timespan
is many thousands of times faster than that of sensations. To be
able to keep track of their arising and dying away, our awareness
has to be still. The four kinds of mental acts are:

— Vedana: the mind's experience of feelings of pleasure,
pain, and indifference.

— Sañña: recognizing and labeling the objects of the mind.

— Sankhara: mental fabrications or fashionings of good
and bad.

— Viññana: distinct consciousness or cognizance of objects.

One class of these mental acts stays in place, arising and disbanding
with reference to the immediate present. Another class is termed
"gocara vedana""gocara sañña," etc., which go out
to refer to the world. Each of these has five levels, differing
as to whether they're common, refined, or subtle, slow or fast.
These five levels connect with each other, running out in stages,
and then circling back to their starting point, disbanding and then
arising again — all without end.

When we don't have the skill to discern the primary sensations
and mental acts that stay in place, we can't see into the "gocara"
sensations and mental acts that go flowing around. This is termed
"avijja," the unawareness that opens the way for connecting
consciousness (patisandhi viññana), giving rise to the act
of fashioning (sankhara), which is the essence of kamma.
This gives fruit as sensations and feelings that are followed by
craving, and then the act of labeling, which gives rise to another
level of consciousness — of sensory objects — and then the cycle
goes circling on. This is termed the "khandha-vatta," the
cycle of the aggregates, circling and changing unevenly and inconsistently.
To see this is called aniccanupassana-ñana, the knowledge
that keeps track of inconstancy as it occurs. This is known through
the inner eye, i.e., the skill of genuine discernment.

Thus, those who practice the exercises of insight meditation
should use their sensitivities and circumspection to the full if
they hope to gain release from unawareness. Fashionings, in this
context, are like waves on the ocean. If we're out in a boat on
the ocean when the waves are high, our vision is curtailed. Our
senses of hearing, smell, taste, touch, and ideation are all curtailed.
We won't be able to perceive far into the distance. What this means
is that when our minds are immersed in the Hindrances, we won't
be able to perceive death at all. But once we've been able to suppress
the Hindrances, it's like taking a boat across the ocean when there
are no waves. We'll be able to see objects far in the distance.
Our eyes will be clear-seeing, our ears clear-hearing, our senses
of smell, taste, touch and ideation will be broad and wide open.
The water will be clear, and the light brilliant. We'll be able
to know all around us.

In the same way, those who are to know death clearly have to
begin by practicing concentration as a foundation for developing
liberating insight. How do the five sorts of above-mentioned sensation
arise? What are their causes? How do they disappear? How do physical
and mental feelings arise? How do they disappear? What are their
causes? How do labels and concepts arise? What are their causes?
How do they disappear? How do mental fashionings arise? What are
their causes? How do they disappear? How does consciousness arise
by way of the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and
ideation? What are its causes? How does it disappear?

Altogether there are four levels to each of the five aggregates
(khandhas): external and internal, staying in place and streaming
outward. These can be known at all times, but only people who have
the discernment that comes from training the mind in tranquillity
and insight meditation will be able to know death on this level.

The discernment that arises in this way has been termed pubbenivasanussati-ñana,
i.e., understanding past sensations, future sensations, and sensations
in the present. These sensations differ in the way they arise and
pass away. To know this is to have mastered one cognitive skill.

Cutupapata-ñana: With discernment of this sort, we're
able to keep track of the states of our own mind as they arise and
disappear, sometimes good as they arise and good as they disappear,
sometimes bad as they arise and bad as they disappear, sometimes
good as they arise and bad as they disappear, sometimes bad as they
arise and good as they disappear. To be able to keep track in this
way is to know states of being and birth.

Asavakkhaya-ñana: When the discernment of this skill arises,
it leads to disenchantment with the way sensations and mental acts
arise and disappear and then arise again, simply circling about:
coarser sensations going through the cycle slowly, more refined
sensations going quickly; coarser mental acts going slowly, more
refined mental acts going quickly. When you can keep track of this,
you know one form of stress. Now focus attention back on your own
mind to see whether or not it's neutral at that moment. If the mind
approves of its knowledge or of the things it knows, that's kamasukhallikanuyoga
— indulgence in pleasure. If the mind disapproves of its knowledge
or of the things it knows, that's attakilamathanuyoga, indulgence
in self-infliction. Once you've seen this, make the mind neutral
toward whatever it may know: That moment of awareness is the mental
state forming the Path. When the Path arises, the causes of stress
disband. Try your best to keep that mental state going. Follow that
train of awareness as much as you can. The mind when it's in that
state is said to be developing the Path — and at whatever moment
the Path stands firm, disbanding and relinquishing occur.

When you can do this, you reach the level where you know death
clearly. People who know death in this way are then able to reduce
the number of their own deaths. Some of the Noble Ones have seven
more deaths ahead of them, some have only one more, others go beyond
death entirely. These Noble Ones are people who understand birth
and death, and for this reason have only a few deaths left to them.
Ordinary people who understand their own birth and death on this
level are hard to find. Common, ordinary birth and death aren't
especially necessary; but people who don't understand the Dhamma
have to put up with birth and death as a common thing.

So whoever is to know death on this level will have to develop
the cognitive skill that comes from training the mind. The skill,
here, is knowing which preoccupations of the mind are in the past,
which are in the future, and which are in the present. This is cognitive
skill (vijja). Letting go of the past, letting go of the
future, letting go of the present, not latching onto anything at
all: This is purity and release.

As for unawareness, it's the exact opposite, i.e., not knowing
what's past, not knowing what's future, not knowing what's present
— that is, the arising and falling away of sensations and mental
acts, or body and mind — or at most knowing only on the level of
labels and concepts remembered from what other people have said,
not knowing on the level of awareness that we've developed on our
own. All of this is classed as avijja, or unawareness.

No matter how much we may use words of wisdom and discernment,
it still won't gain us release. For instance, we may know that things
are inconstant, but we still fall for inconstant things. We may
know about things that are stressful, but we still fall for them.
We may know that things are not-self, but we still fall for things
that are not-self. Our knowledge of inconstancy, stress, and not-self
isn't true. Then how are these things truly known? Like this:

"Simply mindful and aware, the mind remains independent, not
attached to anything in the world."

Epilogue

I. There are three sets of results arising
from the practice.

Set A

1. Pubbenivasanussati-ñana: the ability to
remember previous lives.

2. Cutupapata-ñana: the ability to know how
the living beings of the world die and are reborn.

3. Asavakkhaya-ñana: understanding how to
put an end to the defilements of the heart.

Set B

1. Vipassana-ñana: clear insight, through
training the mind, into phenomena in and of themselves, in terms
of the four Noble Truths.

2. Manomayiddhi: psychic power, making things
appear in line with your thoughts — for example, thinking of a visual
image that then appears to the physical eye. Those who are to develop
this skill must first become expert at uggaha nimittas.

3. Iddhividhi: the ability to change such
images as you like. Those who are to develop this skill must first
become expert in patibhaga nimittas.

4. Dibbacakkhu: clairvoyance, the ability
to see great distances. Only people with good optic nerves — and
who understand how to adjust the physical properties in the body
so as to keep the nerves charged and awake — will be able to develop
this skill.

5. Dibbasota: clairaudience, the ability to
hear sounds at great distances. Only people whose auditory nerves
are good — and who understand how to adjust the properties in the
body so that they act as a conducting medium — will be able to develop
this skill.

6. Cetopariya-ñana: knowing the thoughts and
mental states of other people. To do this, you first have to adjust
the fluids nourishing your heart muscles so that they're clean and
pure.

7. Pubbenivasanussati-ñana: the ability to
remember previous lives, knowing by means of mental images or intuitive
verbal knowledge. To remember past lives, you first have to understand
how to interchange the physical properties in the body.

8. Asavakkhaya-ñana: knowing the causes for
mental defilement; knowing the means for putting an end to mental
fermentations.

Set C

1. Attha-patisambhida-ñana: acumen in understanding
the meaning of various teachings.

2. Dhamma-patisambhida-ñana: acumen — acquired
by means of your own heart — with regard to all fashioned properties
and qualities.

3. Nirutti-patisambhida-ñana: the ability
to understand by means of the heart the affairs and languages of
people and other living beings in the world.

4. Patibhana-patisambhida-ñana: the intuitive
ability to respond promptly and aptly in situations where you're
called on to speak; the ability to respond to an opponent without
having to think: Simply by focusing the mind heavily down, the right
response will appear on its own, just as a flashlight gives off
light immediately as we press the switch.

* * *

Taken together, all of these skills arise exclusively
from training the heart and are called bhavana-maya-pañña
— discernment developed through training the mind. They can't be
taught. You have to know them on your own. Thus, they can be called
paccatta-vijja, personal skills. If you're astute enough,
they can all become transcendent. If not, they all become mundane.
Thus, the principles of discernment are two:

1. Mundane discernment: studying and memorizing a
great deal, thinking and evaluating a great deal, and then understanding
on the common level of labels and concepts.

2. Transcendent discernment: knowledge that comes
from practicing Right Concentration; intuitive understanding that
arises naturally on its own within the heart, beyond the scope of
the world; clear insight; release from all views, conceits, defilements,
and fermentations of the mind.

* * *

II.Upakara dhamma. There are three
sets of qualities that are of help in giving rise to cognitive skill.

Set A

1. Sila-sanvara: taking good care of your
virtue — your manners and conduct in thought, word, and deed — following
such principles as the ten guidelines (kammapatha).

2. Indriya-sanvara: being constantly mindful
of the six "gateways" — the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste,
touch, and ideation — making sure they don't give rise to anything
that would disturb your own peace or that of others.

3. Bhojane mattannuta: having a sense of moderation
in the amount of food you eat — not too much, not too little, eating
only food that's compatible with your physical make-up; making sure
that it's light food: Otherwise, you'll have to eat only half-full
or on the small side. As far as food is concerned, if you can get
by on only one meal a day, you'll find it much easier to train the
mind.

There are three ways of eating:

a. Stuffing yourself full. This interferes with concentration
and is termed "being greedy."

b. Eating just enough to keep the body going. This
is termed "being content with what you have."

c. Eating no more than half full. This is termed
"being a person of few wants," who has no worries associated with
food and whose body weighs lightly. Just as a tree with light heartwood
won't sink when it falls in the water, so the meditation of such
a person is not inclined to lead to anything low. The senses of
such a person — the nerves of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and
body — tend toward peacefulness and are well-suited for helping
the mind to attain peace.

4. Jagariyanuyoga: awakening the physical
properties of the body by developing the factor that fashions the
body (kaya-sankhara), i.e., adjusting the in-and-out breath
so that it's thoroughly beneficial to the properties of earth, water,
wind, and fire within the body. This is termed developing mindfulness
immersed in the body (kayagatasati-bhavana), as in the verse:

"The disciples of the Buddha Gotama are always well
alert, their mindfulness constantly, by day and by night, immersed
in the body"... their mindfulness charging the body whether their
eyes are open or closed.

At the same time, we have to understand how to keep
the mind wide awake through developing jhana, starting with directed
thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure, and singleness of object
(see below). The mind will then awaken from its forgetfulness. With
regard to forgetfulness, the Buddha taught that when the mind gets
drawn in by its objects, it faints for a spell. If this happens
often enough to become a habit, it gives rise to delusion, leaving
us no way to give rise to the discernment of liberating insight.

Set B

1. Saddha: conviction, i.e., being convinced
of the causes of goodness and of the results that will come from
acting in line with those causes.

2. Hiri: inner shame at the thought of doing
evil, not daring to do evil either openly or secretly, because we
realize that there are no secret places in the world. Even if other
people don't see us doing evil, we ourselves are sure to see.

3. Ottappa: fear of evil, not being attracted
to the idea of doing evil; viewing bad kamma as a poisonous cobra
raising its head and spreading its hood, and thus not daring to
go near.

4. Bahusacca: studying and training yourself
constantly, seeking advice from those who are knowledgeable and
expert in the practice. Don't associate with people who have no
knowledge of the matters in which you are interested.

5. Viriya: persistence in abandoning the defilements
of the mind — i.e., the Hindrances; perseverance in giving rise
to good within the mind by developing such things as the first jhana.
Briefly put, there are three ways to do this: being persistent in
giving rise to the good, in maintaining the good, and in constantly
developing the good that has already arisen.

6. Satipatthana: giving your powers of reference
a frame and a focal point by developing mindfulness immersed in
the body ("kesa, loma") or mindfulness of breathing, etc.

7. Pañña: discernment; circumspection that's
all-encompassing and fully reasonable in doing good, in maintaining
the good, and in using the good so as to be of benefit at large
— for low-level benefits, intermediate benefits, and ultimate benefits,
with regard to this life, lives to come, and the ultimate benefit,
nibbana. This is what is meant by discernment.

Set C

1. The first jhana. Vitakka: Think of an object
for the mind to focus on. Vicara: Evaluate the object on
which you have focused. For example, once you are focused on keeping
track of the breath, take a good look at the various breath-sensations
in the body. Learn how to adjust and change whichever part or aspect
is uncomfortable. Learn how to use whichever part feels good so
as to be of benefit to the body and mind. Keep this up continually,
and results will appear: The body will feel light and full, permeated
with a sense of rapture and refreshment (piti). Awareness
will be full and all-round, with no distracting restlessness. At
this point, both mind and body are quiet, just as a child lying
in a cradle with a doll to play with won't cry. The body is thus
at ease, and the mind relaxed (sukha).Ekaggatam cittam:
The mind sticks steadily with a single object, without grasping
after past or future, comfortably focused in the present. This much
qualifies as jhana.

2. The second jhana. Directed thought and evaluation
disappear; awareness settles in on its sense of ease and rapture.
The body is relaxed, the mind quiet and serene. The body feels full,
like the earth saturated with rain water to the point where puddles
form. The mind feels brighter and clearer. As awareness focuses
more heavily on its one object, it expands itself even further,
letting go of the sense of rapture and entering the third jhana.

b. Ekaggatarammana: Awareness is firm and
fixed in a snug fit with its object. As it focuses strongly and
forcibly expands itself, a bright sense of light appears. The mind
seems much more open and blooming than before. As you focus in with
complete mindfulness and alertness, the sense of pleasure begins
to waver, and as the mind adjusts its focus slightly it enters the
fourth jhana.

4. The fourth jhana has two factors:

a. Upekkha: equanimity with regard to objects.
Past, future, and the grosser sense of the body in the present disappear.

b. Ekaggatarammana: The mind is solitary,
its mindfulness full and bright — as if you were sitting in a brightly-lit,
empty room with your work finished, free to relax as you like. The
mind rests, its energy strong and expansive.

Now withdraw from this level back out to the first
and then enter in again. As you do this repeatedly, liberating insight
will arise on its own, just like a light connected to a battery:
When we press down on the switch, the light flashes out on its own.
And then we can use whatever color of bulb we want and put it to
use in whatever way we like, depending on our own skill and ingenuity.
In other words, the skills mentioned above will appear.

* * *

People who develop jhana fall into three classes:

1. Those who attain only the first level and then
gain liberating insight right then and there are said to excel in
discernment (paññadhika). They Awaken quickly, and their
release is termed pañña-vimutti, release through discernment.

2. Those who develop jhana to the fourth level, there
gaining liberating insight into the Noble Truths, are said to excel
in conviction (saddhadhika). They develop a moderate number
of skills, and their Awakening occurs at a moderate rate. Their
release is the first level of ceto-vimutti, release through
concentration.

3. Those who become skilled at the four levels of
jhana — adept at entering, staying in place, and withdrawing — and
then go all the way to the four levels of arupa-jhana, after which
they withdraw back to the first jhana, over and over again, until
finally intuitive knowledge, the cognitive skills, and liberating
discernment arise, giving release from mental fermentation and defilement:
These people are said to excel in persistence (viriyadhika).
People who practice jhana a great deal, developing strong energy
and bright inner light, can Awaken suddenly in a single mental instant,
as soon as discernment first arises. Their release is cetopariyavimutti,
release through mastery of concentration.

These are the results to be gained by meditators.
But there have to be causes — our own actions — before the results
can come fully developed.

Translator's Appendix

The "Seven Important Sets of Principles" listed in
the prologue to Basic Themes are common to all schools of
Buddhism. In the Pali Canon they appear in a number of discourses
(e.g., Maha-parinibbana Sutta,Pasadika Sutta, etc.)
as the Buddha's own summary of the essential points of his teaching.
Many of these principles are discussed in connection with various
aspects of the practice at different points in this book. What follows
is a selection of excerpts from Ajaan Lee's other writings and talks
dealing with these principles as they relate directly to the practice
of keeping the breath in mind.

* * *

The four frames of reference when we sit in meditation:
The breath is "body"; comfort and discomfort are "feeling"; purity
and clarity are states of "mind"; and steadiness of mind is "mental
quality."

* * *

Chanda: being content to focus on the breath.
Viriya: trying to adjust the breath so that it's comfortable.
Citta: paying attention to how the breath is flowing.
Vimansa: knowing how to use the breath to benefit every part
of the body. If we follow these four "paths to success," they will
lead us to liberating insight.

* * *

In order to divest our hearts of sights, sounds,
smells, tastes, etc., we have to develop concentration, which is
composed of seven basic qualities:

1. Sati-sambojjhanga: The mind is centered
firmly on the breath, aware of the body, feelings, mind, and mental
qualities.

2. Dhamma-vicaya-sambojjhanga: We let the
breath spread throughout the body, making an enlarged frame of reference.
We know how to adjust, improve, choose, and use our breaths so that
they give us comfort. We throw out whichever breaths are harmful
and foster whichever ones are beneficial.

3. Viriya-sambojjhanga: We don't abandon or
forget the breath. We stick with it, and it sticks with us as we
keep warding the Hindrances from the heart. We don't fasten on or
become involved with distracting perceptions. We keep trying to
make our stillness of mind stronger and stronger.

4. Piti-sambojjhanga: When the mind is quiet,
the breath is full and refreshing. We are free from the Hindrances
and from every sort of restlessness, like a white cloth that's spotlessly
clean. When the mind is clear in this way, it feels nothing but
comfort and fullness, which gives rise to a sense of satisfaction,
termed "rapture."

5. Passaddhi-sambojjhanga: The breath is solid
throughout the body. The elements are at peace, and so is the mind.
Nothing feels troublesome or aroused.

6. Samadhi-sambojjhanga: The breath is firm,
steady, and unwavering. The mind takes a firm stance in a single
preoccupation.

7. Upekkha-sambojjhanga: When body, feelings,
mind, and mental qualities are fully snug with one another in these
two types of breath — when the mind stays with these aspects of
the breath — it doesn't have to fashion anything at all. It doesn't
latch onto any manifestation of good or bad. Neutral and unperturbed,
it doesn't approve or disapprove of anything.

* * *

When mindfulness saturates the body the way flame
saturates every thread in the mantle of a Coleman lantern, the elements
throughout the body work together like a group of people working
together on a job: Each person helps a little here and there, and
in no time at all — almost effortlessly — the job is done. Just
as the mantle of a Coleman lantern whose every thread is soaked
in flame becomes light, white, and dazzling, so if you soak your
mind in mindfulness until it's aware of the entire body, both the
body and mind become buoyant. When you think using the power of
mindfulness, your sense of the body will immediately become thoroughly
bright, helping to develop both body and mind. You'll be able to
sit or stand for long periods of time without getting tired, to
walk for great distances without getting fatigued, to go for unusually
long periods of time on just a little food without getting hungry,
or to go without food and sleep altogether for several days running
without losing energy.

As for the heart, it will become pure, open, and
free from blemish. The mind will become bright, energetic, and strong.
Saddha-balam: Your conviction will run like a car running
without stop along the road. Viriya-balam: Your persistence
will accelerate and advance. Sati-balam: Your mindfulness
will be robust and vigorous. Samadhi-balam: Your concentration
will become unwavering and resilient. No activity will be able to
kill it. In other words, no matter what you're doing — sitting,
standing, walking, talking, whatever — as soon as you think of practicing
concentration, your mind will immediately be centered. Whenever
you want it, just think of it and you have it. When your concentration
is this powerful, insight meditation is no problem. Pañña-balam:
Your discernment will be like a double-edged sword: Your discernment
of what's outside will be sharp; your discernment of what's inside
will be sharp.

When these five strengths appear in the heart, the
heart will be fully mature. Your conviction, persistence, mindfulness,
concentration, and discernment will all be mature and pre-eminent
in their own spheres. It's the nature of mature adults that they
cooperate. When they work together on a job, they finish it. So
it is when you have these five adults working together for you:
You'll be able to complete any task. Your mind will have the power
to demolish every defilement in the heart, just as a nuclear bomb
can demolish anything anywhere in the world.

* * *

When your concentration has strength, it gives rise
to discernment: the ability to see stress, its cause, its disbanding,
and the Path to its disbanding, all clearly within the breath. We
can explain this as follows: The in-and-out breath is stress — the
in-breath the stress of arising, the out-breath the stress of passing
away. Not being aware of the breath as it goes in and out, not knowing
the characteristics of the breath: This is the cause of stress.
Knowing when the breath is coming in, knowing when it's going out,
knowing its characteristics clearly — i.e., keeping your views in
line with the truth of the breath: This is Right View, part of the
Noble Path. Knowing which ways of breathing are uncomfortable, knowing
how to vary the breath; knowing, "That way of breathing is uncomfortable;
we'll have to breathe like this in order to feel at ease": This
is Right Intention. The mental factors that think about and properly
evaluate all aspects of the breath are Right Speech. Knowing various
ways of improving the breath; breathing, for example, in long and
out long, in short and out short, in short and out long, in long
and out short, until you come across the breath that's most comfortable
for you: This is Right Action. Knowing how to use the breath to
purify the blood, how to let this purified blood nourish the heart
muscles, how to adjust the breath so that it eases the body and
soothes the mind, how to breathe so that you feel full and refreshed
in body and mind: This is Right Livelihood. Trying to adjust the
breath so that it comforts the body and mind, and to keep trying
as long as you aren't fully at ease: This is Right Effort. Being
mindful of the in-and-out breath at all times, knowing the various
aspects of the breath — the up-flowing breath, the down-flowing
breath, the breath in the stomach, the breath in the intestines,
the breath flowing along the muscles and out to every pore — keeping
track of these things with every in-and-out breath: This is Right
Mindfulness. A mind intent only on matters of the breath, not pulling
any other objects in to interfere, until the breath is refined,
giving rise to fixed absorption and then liberating insight: This
is Right Concentration.

When all of these aspects of the Noble Path — virtue,
concentration, and discernment — are brought together fully mature
within the heart, you gain insight into all aspects of the breath,
knowing that, "Breathing this way gives rise to good mental states;
breathing that way gives rise to bad mental states." You let go
of the factors — i.e., the breath in all its aspects — that fashion
the body, the factors that fashion speech, the factors that fashion
the mind, whether good or bad, letting them be as they truly are,
in line with their own inherent nature: This is the disbanding of
stress.

Glossary

Apaya: States of deprivation, i.e., the four
lower realms of existence: rebirth in hell, as a hungry ghost, as
an angry demon, or as a common animal. In Buddhism, none of these
states are regarded as eternal conditions.

Arahant: A "worthy one" or "pure one," i.e.,
a person whose heart no longer has any defilements and is thus not
destined for further rebirth. A title for the Buddha and the highest
level of his Noble Disciples.

Ayatana: Sense media, i.e., the six senses
(the five physical senses plus the intellect) and their corresponding
objects.

Bhavanga (-pada, -citta): The mind's underlying
preoccupation or resting state, which determines its state of being
and to which it reverts in between its responses to stimuli.

Brahma: An inhabitant of the higher heavens
(of form and formlessness), a position earned — but not forever
— through the cultivation of virtue and meditative absorption (jhana),
along with the attitudes of limitless love, compassion, appreciation,
and equanimity.

Dhamma: Event; phenomenon; the way things
are in and of themselves; quality — both in its neutral and in its
positive senses: (1) the basic qualities into which natural phenomena
— mental and physical — can be analyzed; the terms in which things
are known by the sense of ideation. Also, any teaching that analyzes
phenomena into their basic terms. This is one sense in which the
Buddha's doctrine is his "Dhamma." (2) The quality of one's heart
and mind, as manifest by the rectitude, fairness, compassion, composure,
discernment, etc., revealed in one's actions. The manifestations
can be enumerated and prescribed as principles (again, "dhamma"
— another sense in which the Buddha's doctrine is his Dhamma) that
can then be put into practice and developed as means of removing
shoddiness from the heart so that its genuine, unchanging quality
can become fully apparent from within: This is the Buddha's Dhamma
in its ultimate sense.

Dhatu: Element, property, potential. Basic
forces that, when aroused out of their latent state, cause activity
on the physical or psychological level. In traditional Thai physics,
which is based on the physics of the Pali Canon, the four dhatu
of earth, water, fire, and wind are said to permeate all matter
in latent or potential form. To become manifest, they have to be
aroused. Thus, for example, the act of starting a fire is explained
as the arousal of the fire-dhatu (tejas), which already exists
in the air and in the object to be ignited. Once this is "seized,"
it clings to the fuel, and the object will be on fire. The fire
will continue burning as long as tejas has sustenance to cling to.
When it runs out of sustenance or is forced to let go, it will grow
quiet — returning to its normal, latent state — and the individual
fire will go out.

On the level of the human body, diseases are explained
as resulting from the aggravation or imbalance of any of these four
physical properties. Diseases are classified by how they feel: Fevers
are attributed to the fire property, dizziness and faintness to
the wind property, constipation to the earth property, etc. Well-being
is defined as a state in which none of these properties is dominant.
All are quiet, unaroused, balanced and still.

There are a number of lists of dhatus given in the
Pali Canon. The six dhatus are the four physical properties plus
space and consciousness. The 18 dhatus are the six senses, their
respective objects, and the acts of consciousness associated with
each.

Gotarabhu-ñana: "Change of lineage knowledge"
— the glimpse of nibbana that changes one from an ordinary, run-of-the-mill
person to a Noble One. This is also classed as "ñana-dassana
visuddhi," purity of knowledge and vision.

Jhana: Absorption in a single object or preoccupation.
Rupa-jhana refers to absorption in a physical sensation;
arupa-jhana, to absorption in a mental notion or state. When
Ajaan Lee uses the term "jhana" by itself, he is usually referring
to rupa-jhana.

Kamma: Acts of intention that result in states
of being and birth.

Kammapatha: Ten guidelines for moral conduct
— not killing, not stealing, not engaging in sexual misconduct,
not lying, not speaking divisively, not using coarse or vulgar language,
not speaking idly, not coveting, not harboring anger, holding right
views.

Kasina: An object stared at with the purpose
of fixing an image of it in one's consciousness, the image then
being manipulated to fill the totality of one's awareness.

Kesa: Hair of the head; the first in the list
of 32 parts of the body used as a meditation theme for counteracting
lust.

Nibbana: The "unbinding" of the mind from
sensations and mental acts, preoccupations and suppositions. As
this term is also used to refer to the extinguishing of a fire,
it carries the connotations of stilling, cooling, and peace. (The
use of the word "unbinding" to refer to the extinguishing of a fire
is best understood in light of the way fire was viewed at the time
of the Buddha. See "dhatu.")

Niramisa-sukha: Literally, "un-raw" pleasure,
or pleasure "not of the flesh." The bliss and ease of nibbana, a
pleasure independent of sensations or mental acts.

Nirodha: Disbanding, disappearance, cessation.
In the absolute sense, this refers to the utter disbanding of stress
and its causes. In an applied sense, it can refer to the temporary
and partial suppression of defilement and stress attained in tranquillity
meditation.

Pali: The name of the most ancient recension
of the Buddhist scriptures now extant and — by extension — of the
language in which it was composed.

Patimokkha: The basic monastic code, composed
of 227 rules.

Sankhara: Fashioning — the forces and factors
that fashion things, the process of fashioning, and the fashioned
things that result. As the fourth khandha, this refers to
the act of fashioning thoughts, urges, etc. within the mind. As
a blanket term for all five khandhas, it refers to all things,
physical or psychological, fashioned by nature.

Stupa: Originally, a tumulus or burial mound
enshrining relics of the Buddha or objects associated with his life.
Over the centuries, however, this has developed into the tall, spired
monuments familiar in temples in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Burma;
and into the pagodas of China, Korea and Japan.

Tejas: See "dhatu."

The translations in this book are based on the editions
printed during Ajaan Lee's lifetime that seem most definitive and
complete. At certain points, these editions differ from those currently
available. In particular, I was able to locate a copy of the essay,
Basic Themes, containing corrections in Ajaan Lee's own hand.
These have been incorporated in the translation.

If these translations are in any way inaccurate or
misleading, I ask forgiveness of the author and reader for having
unwittingly stood in their way. As for whatever may be accurate
— conducive to the aims intended by the author — I hope the reader
will make the best use of it, translating it a few steps further,
into the heart, so as to attain those aims.

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